City Transit, Department of

[Record group 69]

Agency Function

The functions of this agency are currently performed by the Office of Transportation connected with the Office of the Mayor.

Agency History

Prior to 1913 the City's relations with public transit companies were administered through the offices of the City Surveyor and the Bureau of Highways under the general supervision of Councils' Committee on Street Railroads. In that year, under an Act approved on 9 May 1913, the Department of City Transit was established to coordinate the control of all transit facilities located within the City with especial regard to the contract of 1907 between the City and the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company formed in that year as an amalgamation of the many transit companies that had existed independently until that time. The Department continued to exercise these functions until 1951 (the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company became the present Philadelphia Transportation Company in 1940) when it was abolished by the City Charter adopted at that time and its duties transferred to the Department of Public Property. During the 1980s and 1990s, many of these duties have been exercised by the Office of Transportation connected with the Office of the Mayor.